- What an interesting concept...taking Mario's popular
songs from his films and assembling certain ones for a program with great
flow and entertainment value! This is what I witnessed last night and will
describe fully below.
-
- The disc comes in a case with a nice photo of Mario from
Serenade on the cover in color and the rear has two black and white photos
of him, one from a concert and the other in the recording studio. The disc
has a shot from him singing "Torna A Surriento" and says "A
selection of songs of love and passion". No opera is included (this
may be a future project), only songs in English and some Italian Neapolitan
songs and one in Spanish.
-
- It begins with a neat logo of a movie projector being
hand threaded and then started. This leads to the first menu card (in widescreen),
which allows you to click on the TV picture tube in the center (which shows
scenes in action) to see the four full pages of titles. But first you are
treated to the wonderful and rare "All the Things You Are" in
its entirely. This is the great recording with piano from the deleted Rhino-MGM
disc. The program starts and the first song from each movie has the film
title and the year. I will run you through this step by step, since the
DVD includes some wonderful effects that add to the overall enjoyment and
flow.
-
-
- A THAT MIDNIGHT KISS
-
- (excellent picture quality with extra rich colors, sharp,
and fine sound)
-
- 1 They Didn't Believe Me duet with K. Grayson. When that
is finished, the scene flips over like a page turning in a book to
- 2 I Know, I Know with Mario serenading Kathryn. That
ends and the scene literally breaks in half and opens for
- 3 Love Is Music, the big ending production number with
colorful costumes like you have never seen before considering the inferior
videotapes around. Then film sprockets appear above and below the frame
and the picture shifts to the right and leads to
-
- B TOAST OF NEW ORLEANS
-
- (excellent sharp picture and sound quality continues
for these excerpts)
-
- 4 Be My Love. Then a smaller picture in a square grows
from the previous scene and fills the screen with
- 5 Tina Lina (this is the only incomplete number, as it
ends with Mario and Rita Moreno arm in arm before much of the production
dance number). There is a fade into
- 6 Boom Biddy Boom. There is a wipe (a movie term where
one picture wipes out another) to the left and
- 7 I'll Never Love You. Then a most interesting effect
appears...circular ripples in the picture which lead to the watery scene
of
- 8 Bayou Lullaby. When that concludes, you see film sprockets
around the frames and the scene shifts to the right for
-
- C THE GREAT CARUSO
-
- (still sharp and still rich colors, but somewhat more
grainy picture quality and a tad more contrasty)
-
-
- 9 Surriento with Mario at piano. Then the screen literally
divides in half and tilts backward for
-
- 10 Because. Mario singing into the recording horn. Film
sprockets appear again and the picture shifts to the right to reveal
-
- D BECAUSE YOU'RE MINE
-
- (quality similar to Great Caruso, still fine and a bit
nicer)
-
- 11 Because Your're Mine (duet in the apartment). Then
a wonderful effect of a small heart which enlarges and fills the screen
for
- 12 Lee-Ah-Loo. Tiny squares appear to segment the picture
like huge pixels and become:
- 13 Granada. After this incredible number is over, film
sprockets appear and shift image to the right for
-
- E SERENADE
-
- (best quality of all, as this looks pristine and could
hardly be improved in sound and picture quality that is stunning)
-
-
- 14 Torna A Surriento. My favorite song in the movie,
done impeccably. Camera zooms in and fades while zooming out to
- 15 My Destiny. (in the hotel suite). A square appears
and closes into
- 16 Serenade (version by the car). Film sprockets and
a right shift to
-
- F THE SEVEN HILLS OF ROME
-
- (these have very good quality of picture and sound and
are sharp..full frame, not widescreen) and we see
-
- 17 Come Dance With Me. A dissolve takes us to
- 18 Arrivederci Roma (lovely fountain setting is crystal
clear). A wonderful effect at the end as the scene becomes a three dimensional
book and the book turns around from the current scene on front to the new
scene on the back of
- 19 Lolita. This dissolves into
- 20 The Loveliest Night Of the Year (which you know is
not sung in its entirety). Another dissolve take us to
- 21 Seven Hills Of Rome, the title song. Film frames appear
and shift to the left for us to enjoy
-
- G FOR THE FIRST TIME
-
- (picture quality is fine, still sharp and rich color,
with a bit more contrast).
-
- 22 Come Prima. Sung with the spoken verse intact. Wipes
to the right for
- 23 O Sole Mio. A great way to end this program with a
fantastic performance. Fades out to black and then the song selection screen
appears again so you can restart and click on each individual favorite
you might want to go back to (each tab is a TV screen with action of the
song seen).
-
- There is nothing from Student Prince to break the flow
of seeing Mario in top scenes looking wonderful and, as the title promised,
singing passionately. The flow of the numbers is impressive and the time
flies by as well as you hardly realize nearly an hour has passed.
-
- It is in Region 0 format, so both NTSC and
PAL users will be able to enjoy it. Price is $15.00 plus $4.00 shipping
in US. Overseas orders can write for shipping quote, most average $8 to
$10 in flat rate cardboard envelopes. Please email Sam Samuelian at <>sms@bee.net.
for more information.
-
- BONUS: We decided to add
this as a Valentine's Day bonus. The DVD now also includes Doretta
Morrow and Mario singing the love duet finale from "Because You're
Mine" which includes the stunning high note Mario hits at the end.
Superimposed over the MGM end titles are "Singing With Passion"
end titles, giving a real air of finality to this great and entertaining
DVD. Also, much of it has been electronically improved for greater clarity.
"That Midnight Kiss" is a stand out with superior color and sharpness.
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